Directed by Dan Mojica, the musical will play UCLA's Freud Playhouse through Aug. 26 with an official opening Aug. 15. The cast boasts "Frasier" star Dan Butler as Sergei Alexandrovich with stage and screen actress Stefanie Powers as Peggy.
Butler and Powers are joined onstage by Jeffry Denman, Beth Malone, Brett Ryback, Jonathan Sharp Yvette Tucker and Diane Vincent. The ensemble comprises Shell Bauman, Seth Belliston, Quintan Craig, Jennie Ford, Casey Garritano, Jeff Griggs, Chelsea Hackett, Joey T. Marshall, Melissa Paris, Aaron Pomeroy, Mark C. Reis, Katie Rooney, Jean Michelle Sayeg, Leslie Stevens, John Todd and Scott Weber.
The creative team also includes Lee Martino (choreography), Gerald Sternbach (musical direction), Brett Banakis (scenic and lighting design) and Phillip G. Allen (sound design).
On Your Toes features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and a book by Rodgers, Hart and George Abbott; it includes such tunes as "Glad To Be Unhappy," "It's Got to Be Love," "On Your Toes" and the classic "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet. The original Broadway production was directed by Abbott and choreographed by George Balanchine.
The musical, according to press notes, is described as such: "While teaching music at Knickerbocker University, Junior Donal (Jeffry Denman) tries to persuade Sergei Alexandrovich (Dan Butler), the director of the Russian Ballet, to stage a friend's jazz ballet 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.' After getting involved with the company's prima ballerina, Vera Barnova (Yvette Tucker), Junior is forced to take over the male lead in 'Slaughter.' Trouble ensues when Vera's lover and dance partner hires two thugs to kill Junior." Stefanie Powers, who is best known for her TV work on "Hart to Hart," also starred in a U.K. revival and a U.S. national tour of The King & I. Her numerous stage credits include Oliver!, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady and the London production of Matador. She also starred as the legendary Margo Channing in a touring revival of Applause Ð The Musical All About Eve. She reunited with "Hart to Hart" co-star Robert Wagner in the play Love Letters in London's West End, followed by tours of the play in the U.S. and Canada.
Dan Butler, known for his television work as radio deejay Robert "Bulldog" Briscoe on the NBC comedy "Frasier," appeared in the original Broadway staging of Harold Pinter's The Hothouse and then as a replacement cast member in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues. He also starred in the Broadway revival of Twentieth Century and received a Drama Desk nomination for The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me Off-Broadway. Other stage work includes Old Money, Light Up the Sky, Lisbon Traviata, Waiting for Godot and True West. Butler has also appeared in such films as "Enemy of the State," "The Fan," "Silence of the Lambs," "From the Earth to the Moon," and on television in "Without a Trace," "American Dreams," "Crossing Jordan" and "Ally McBeal."
For tickets, call the UCLA Central Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101. For more information visit www.reprise.org.
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The Reprise! season will continue with Damn Yankees (Nov. 6-18), Li'l Abner (Feb. 5-17, 2008) and Flora, the Red Menance (May 6-18).
